Opening the plugin

SpeckleGSA runs as its own standalone application. After you've installed Speckle and the GSA plugin, the client should be added to your start menu as SpeckleGSA.

Interface

The plugin is separated into tabs:

• Server: login or create an account in their Speckle server of choice
• GSA: create or open a new GSA file
• Sender: sends the GSA model
• Receiver: receive streams into the GSA file
• Settings: contains all settings
  
  

Creating an account or logging in

As with most other clients, you will need an account on the Speckle server of your choice. This can be done by clicking Login from the server tab. If you do not have a Speckle server available and just want to test out Speckle, you can use https://hestia.speckle.works/api! warning Do be advised that this is a test server - use at your own risk.

Sending

Once logged in, you can start sending GSA models. First, either create or open a GSA file from the GSA tab. Only files opened through this menu are accessible by the client. A demo GSA file can be downloaded here. Next, switch to the sender tab and click on the play_circle_filled button to start sending. Once finished, the ID of the stream as well as the name will be displayed in the list view. Right clicking this entry will give various useful options, such as viewing the model in the online viewer, copying the stream ID, or cloning the stream.

Within the sender tab, there are two toggles to change how the sender operates.

• The Layer to Stream toggle allows you to send either the Design or Analysis layer of GSA.
• The Streaming Method toggle changes whether the plugin should watch GSA and update the stream as changes are made or whether the stream should be updated whenever the play_circle_filled button is selected.
  
  

Additional options for the sender is contained within the settings tab.

Receiving

Receiving streams can be done through the receiver tab. As with sending, you will need to login and create/open a GSA file prior to receiving. To start sending, add the stream IDs of the streams you wish to receive using the Add Receiver button. Next, click on the play_circle_filled button to start receiving.

Within the receiver tab, there are two toggles to change how the sender operates.

• The Layer to Stream toggle allows you to write to either the Design or Analysis layer of GSA.
• The Streaming Method toggle changes whether the plugin will automatically receives any stream changes or whether it will only receive and write once. It is recommended that you do not modify the model while in continuous mode as it may cause unintended effects.
  
  

Once the receiver is paused (or if in single streaming mode), you will be presented with an option to bake the objects into GSA. Baked objects will no longer be tracked; receiving the same stream within the same model will create duplicate entities. Chosing not to bake the objects will cause the GSA client to delete any entities it wrote while receiving the stream. Pre-existing entities will not be deleted.

Sending results

To send analysis results from GSA, some settings must be modified within the result tab:

• Set the GSA result cases you want to send in the cases field. The cases should be delimited by a new line.
• Select which results you wish to export from the result to send checkbox group

By default, the result are embedded within the object itself. If you wish to send only results, unselect embed results in objects and select send only results.

Results can then be then be received in other clients and manipulated. Below is an example of the results being received in Grasshopper and its contour being displayed.

Beyond the basics

This guide has shown how to use the GSA plugin to send and receive models with Speckle. The best way to familiarize yourself is to play around with the plugin in conjunction with other Speckle plugins. Check out the other GSA docs for some other features and integrations with other clients.